the robe, but it adhered so
closely to the skin that all his efforts to remove it only increased his
agonies.

In this pitiable condition he was conveyed to Trachin, where Deianeira, on
beholding the terrible suffering of which she was the innocent cause, was
overcome with grief and remorse, and hanged herself in despair. The dying
hero called his son Hyllus to his side, and desired him to make Iole his
wife, and then ordering his followers to erect a funeral pyre, he mounted
it and implored the by-standers to set fire to it, and thus in mercy to
terminate his insufferable torments. But no one had the courage to obey
him, until at last his friend and companion Philoctetes, yielding to his
piteous appeal, lighted the pile, and received in return the bow and arrows
of the hero.

Soon flames on flames ascended, and amidst vivid flashes of lightning,
accompanied by awful peals of thunder, Pallas-Athene descended in a cloud,
and bore her favourite hero in a chariot to Olympus.

Heracles became admitted among the immortals; and Hera, in token of her
reconciliation, bestowed upon him the hand of her beautiful daughter Hebe,
the goddess of eternal youth.

BELLEROPHON.

Bellerophon, or Bellerophontes, was the son of Glaucus, king of Corinth,
and grandson of Sisyphus. In consequence of an unpremeditated murder
Bellerophon fled to Tiryns, where he was kindly received by King Proetus,
who purified him from his crime. Antea, the wife of Proetus, was so charmed
with the comely youth that she fell in love with him; but Bellerophon did
not return her affection, and she, in revenge, slandered him to the king by
a gross misrepresentation of the facts. {257}

The first impulse of Proetus, when informed of the conduct of Bellerophon,
was to kill him; but the youth, with his gentle and winning manners, had so
endeared himself to his host that he felt it impossible to take his life
with his own hands. He therefore sent him to his father-in-law, Iobates,
king of Lycia, with a kind of letter or tablet which contained mysterious
signs, indicating his desire that the bearer of the missive should be put
to death. But the gods watched over the true and loyal youth, and inclined
the heart of Iobates, who was an amiable prince, towards his guest. Judging
by his appearance that he was of noble birth, he entertained him, according
to the hospitable custom of the Greeks, in the most princely manner for
nine days, and not until the morning of the